In the WMR-PRIME study, the three participating rehabilitation centers have completed the questionnaire survey with the control group which started end of May 2024 prior to the implementation of the newly agreed practice recommendations. As planned, 75 or more people undergoing rehabilitation were recruited to participate in the first patient survey at each facility. By taking part, we can now determine, among other things, the patients reached, the treatment dose provided and perceived, as well as treatment adherence. In the coming weeks, the practice recommendations will now be implemented in the rehabilitation centers before recruitment of the second study cohort begins in …

The practice recommendations for WMR in psychosomatic rehabilitation facilities, which were agreed in two Delphi rounds this spring, have been published in German on our website in August. In order to make the recommendations accessible to an international context, we have translated them into English. The practice recommendations can be opened via the menu item “Publications” and can be viewed via fold-out sections. They are also available as a PDF file. Using the language switch in the menu at the top right-hand edge, the website language and that of the practice recommendations can be selected between German and English.

On September 13 and 14, 2024, the German Society for Clinical Psychotherapy, Prevention and Psychosomatic Rehabilitation met in Ratzeburg for its annual conference. On Saturday morning, we presented our practice recommendations in a one-hour presentation and discussed them with the participants. Click here to see our presentation.  

From May to September 2024, visits were conducted over several days at the three participating clinics. During these visits, there was direct exchange with the implementation managers, clinic management, staff, and the rehabilitants on-site. „In the clinics, there is a comprehensive psychotherapeutic offering, which is flexibly adapted to the needs of the rehabilitants,” said Stefanie Freytag, the responsible staff member. She described the atmosphere in the clinics as always friendly and appreciative. She looks forward to further collaboration and thanked the clinics for their commitment.

The focus of the two-day online implementation workshops, held on two separate occasions, was on planning the implementation of practical recommendations work-related medical rehabilitation in psychosomatic rehabilitation (WMR) in the participating clinics. Workshop leader M.Sc. Stefanie Freytag, a research associate at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, welcomed a total of four implementation managers from the participating clinics to the event. After a welcome address by Prof. Dr. Markus Bassler and Prof. Dr. Matthias Bethge, project leaders of the study centers, the research staff introduced themselves. The specialist lectures on change-/project management were followed by intensive discussions. The clinic-specific approaches to implementing the …

At the start of the project, the WMR-PRIME working group formulated 119 proposals for possible practice recommendations. Between March 14, 2024 and March 29, 2024, the proposals were agreed in a Delphi round of anonymous online voting by clinical staff, scientists, pension insurance providers employees and people who had been treated in The recommendations evaluated in the first vote were revised by the WMR-PRIME working group. They were offered to the participants of the first Delphi round for voting again in a second Delphi round between 29.04.2024 and 10.05.2024. Of the 119 recommendations submitted in the second round, two were …

After the successful completion of the WMR-P project at the end of 2023, the follow-up project WMR-PRIME was applied for and approved for funding after a positive assessment. The WMR-PRIME project will start at the beginning of 2024 and consists of three work packages: Work package 1 consists of a two-stage Delphi process from which practice recommendations will emerge. Work package 2 includes the implementation of the developed practice recommendations in three rehabilitation facilities. Work package 3 comprises a questionnaire survey with people treated in WMR before and after the implementation of the practice recommendations. We look forward to the …

We are pleased to announce that data collection in both, the qualitative and quantitative research fields has been successfully completed! We are in the final stage of the analysis phase and we will soon be able to present the results of our work. Our dedicated teams are already working on publications that will share the findings of this important research. These publications will not only deepen our understanding, but will also act as the basis for a follow-up project. Special thanks go to all those involved who have contributed to this success – from rehabilitation centers to the patients and …

All four interview rounds were successfully completed. The third interview phase took place online in March/April 2022. The employees, team leaders and medical directors were interviewed for the second time. The focus was on changes since the first meeting and the current status. The final interview phase was conducted in September/October 2022. Here, patients were interviewed for the third time. As the period of rehabilitation had already been a whole year for the rehabilitants, the joy of seeing them again, even if only online this time, was all the greater. Some even reported that they were still in contact with …

Recruitment of project participants will continue until 31 March 2022. By January, 1,500 patients had already been recruited for the study – a good result! As of now, the target of 1,800 participants can therefore be achieved. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all current and future participants. We would also like to thank the documentation assistants employed in the clinics for the study, without whose work it would not have been possible to work this successful.